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However, he added that Irish people had taken that pain with remarkable courage, patience and dignity.

He described unemployment as "the deepest hurt" and spoke of the danger of a generation growing up believing their political leaders had failed to give them a reasonable chance in life.

In relation to Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach said that small groups of disparate, unrepresentative trouble-makers will never succeed in bringing Northern Ireland and its people back to "that dark place".